VDC brings Thorpe Park virtual reality ride to life

Derren Brown’s Ghost Train ride combines live action, VR and show scenes with extensive use of projection, lighting and sound and was a world first for Thorpe Park Resort.

Following a busy summer season , VDC Trading were called in at the end of 2016 to support Thorpe Park with their plans to upgrade the service and further enhance the guest experience for the 2017 season.

The Ghost Train is set on a replica London Underground train; each guest wears a VR headset, which in turn is connected to a PC.

Jonny Burns, show services technical manager at Thorpe Park Resort, explains: “Derren Brown’s Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon takes guests through a multi-sensory experience and is a technological feat in terms of theme park technology. For the 2017 season following guest feedback for more scares, we decided to bring a more realistic technology experience to life within the 20-tonne suspended carriage, so we revisited sections of the ride to make it fully immersive. VDC supported us in our journey to accomplish this.”

VDC spent time ensuring the headsets were fully functioning to completely immerse guests in the experience. Central to achieving these results was revisiting the cabling. VDC came up with a custom solution for the Ghost Train that offered the robustness and ease of install and replacement required by the Thorpe Park team.

Adam Jafrabadi, export and technical consultant at VDC Trading, says: “After meeting with the engineers at Thorpe Park and discussing their plans for the 2017 season we were able to make a couple of prototypes and, after a few tweaks and upgrades, we came up with a custom solution that fulfilled the brief.”